Origins of Language and the Precursors of English


Reading:


Focus on the section at the beginning about the origins of the Indo-European language. You don't have to put much attention into the non-Indo-European languages. Get a general familiarity with the Indo-European languages, but pay special attention to the Germanic ones.

Here is the ppt that I will use in class. You can use it to preview the lesson or to follow along in class.



Class activities:


What similarities do you see between these two texts?




What is the meaning of this word?
*Dyēus

What is the meaning of this word?
sepeliō
sepulchre


Links:


Proto-Indo European Sample Texts

Here are some examples of what PIE may have looked like as postulated by PIE scholars:
http://www.grsampson.net/Q_PIE.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_king_and_the_god
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schleicher%27s_fable

Grammar of Modern Indo-European
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language

Genetic Stuff:

R1a Haplogroup: Yamna Culture--these are the genetic ancestors to the Indo-Europeans
Haplogroup-R1a.gif

old_neolithic_map.gif

R1a_migration_map.jpg

R1b Haplogroup: These people merged with the Yamna culture and spread Indo-European across Europe

late_neolithic_europe.gif

R1b-migration-map.jpg


J2 Haplogroup: The Phoenician haplogroup
Haplogroup-J2.jpg

J1 Y-haplogroup
mtDNA J Haplogroup map

Y-DNA haplogroups in European populations: there's a strange spike in the J Y-haplogroup for Frisians
Distribution of European Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups by country in percentages

Did Phoenicians in Denmark form the English language?
Who were the Phoenicians?
In the Wake of the Phoenicians: DNA study reveals a Phoenician-Maltese link

Germanic Homeland:

Pre-roman_iron_age_Germanic(map).PNG
Map of the Pre-Roman Iron Age culture(s) associated with Proto-Germanic, c. 500 BC-50 BC. The magenta-colored area south of Scandinavia represents the Jastorf culture
http://www.indo-european.eu/wiki/index.php/Proto-Germanic_language

Germanic Migration

Germanic_tribes_(750BC-1AD).png
The expansion of the Germanic tribes 750BC-1AD:
██ Settlements before 750BC ██ New settlements until 500BC
██ New settlements until 250BC ██ New settlements until the birth of Christ

http://www.indo-european.eu/wiki/index.php/Proto-Germanic_language

Germanic Languages:
germanic-languages-map.gif

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_substrate_hypothesis

Maps:


National Geographic Map of Present Language Families:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/map/map-day/2008/01/29

Germanic languages today:
http://cache-media.britannica.com.cdnetworks.net/eb-media/34/2034-004-9211C072.gif
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_germanic-languages.PNG

Evolution of Indo-European languages based on Kurgan homeland hypothesis:
http://indo-european.dnghu.org/proto-indo-european-urheimat/
http://indo-european.dnghu.org/kurgans-4500/
http://indo-european.dnghu.org/yamna-and-maykop-cultures/
http://indo-european.dnghu.org/late-proto-indo-european-language-expansion/
http://indo-european.dnghu.org/early-proto-indo-european-dialects-evolution/
http://indo-european.dnghu.org/antiquity-greek-and-celtic-decadence-roman-empire-division-and-gothic-invasion-fleeing-from-huns/
http://indo-european.dnghu.org/indo-european-languages-in-the-middle-ages/
http://indo-european.dnghu.org/indo-european-languages-map-today/
http://indo-european.dnghu.org/map-of-worlds-language-families/
http://indo-european.dnghu.org/map-of-indo-european-languages-in-europe/
http://indo-european.dnghu.org/germanic-languages-map-gothic-saxon-angli-nordic-suebi-burgundi-vandali-frisones/

Eurasia map:
http://etc.usf.edu/maps/pages/2900/2965/2965.jpg

Other stuff:


Tomb of Tocharian man loaded with marijuana: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28034925/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Indo-European Languages--Centum: http://www.danshort.com/ie/iecentum.htm
Indo-European Languages--Satem: http://www.danshort.com/ie/iesatem.htm
Some examples of IE cognates
Proto Indo-European Language demonstration and exploration website: Has links to pages for lots of cognate words related by the following categories: Family, Sky, Counting, Plants, Animals. Also has some brief info about the cultures of the different Indo-European languages

Indo-European Gods:
http://fantalov.tripod.com/idea.htm
http://fantalov.tripod.com/gods1.htm
http://fabpedigree.com/s020/f207565.htm


Indo-European Languages superimposed on present day map:
Kurgan invasion perspective: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~cfford/342worldhistoryearly.html
Cognate words: http://www.tutorpal.com/Our_English/indo_european/cogwords.html
map from Nature article: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v426/n6965/images/nature02029-f1.2.jpg
Matilda's Anthropology blog--Anatolian farmer evidence
Indo-European pantheon here: http://www.geocities.com/fantalov/idea.htm
Map of Indo-European dispersion
English History and Its Language Development: INDEX or Table of Contents (with funny cartoon pictures)
World Language Mapping: http://www.gmi.org/wlms/users/huffman/

Colin Renfrew: Archeology and Language at Google books
Renfrew PIE language family tree
Kalevi Wiik hypothesis that Finno-Ugrian language spoken all across northern Europe. Has maps of Ice Age, IE incursion, IE differentiation, Present Day dispersion of IE languages
Paleolithic Continuity Theory

Indopedia:
Wikipedia Proto Indo-European language page
Proto Indo-European homeland info
Renfrew's Anatolian farmer hypothesis summary
Kurgan expansion hypothesis
A number of PIE homeland theories includes genetic modeling that puts home in Balkans
D'iakonov Balkan dispersion map
Summary of PIE homeland theories by some computer programmer; academic credibility severely damaged by his insults to other theories

Indo-European migration into England: http://www.ksc.kwansei.ac.jp/~jed/EGG/index.html

Beech line description at bottom:
More beech line stuff and other Indo-European cultural stuff: Early History of Indo-European languages
Even more beech and tree stuff: Here is the normal page: http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Indo-European_Languages
BBC: Oldest English words identified

Swearing:


Steven Pinker: What the F***? Why we swear.
Cunt: History of the C word
*Ka root swear words
Blogging about sexual metaphors and profanity
Some damn etymology

Comparing Rig Veda to Bible:

Psalm 23 NIV
Psalm 23 ESV